We have the stainless Chicken Fryer (no teflon) and are quite pleased with it. It's quite comparable to three different All Clad pieces we also have. The folks at Cook's Illustrated also use and like some of the Gourmet Standard products. Their online site (cooksillustrated.com) is subscription, but I think you can use a free trial period.

G S also makes some nice bakeware; we have the stainless 9 x 13 and loaf pan with meatloaf insert.

I suggest trying one small example first and see what you think. The open stock source I used is:

It's good stuff. I bought a Gourmet Standard tri-ply 5.5 Qt dutch oven a few years ago, and was happy with it. At the time, their tri-ply line wasn't induction-compatible, but now their stuff is.

I just replaced my cooktop this week with an induction unit, and so I'm replacing most of my cookware with Gourmet Standard. My new dutch oven arrived today, along with a 12" saute pan. I've also ordered an 8" frying pan and a 3 qt sauce pan, but they're still on the way.

Unfortunately, Gourmet Standard doesn't make a tri-ply saucier, as far as I can tell, so I had to replace my lovely Kitchen Aid 2.5 qt saucier with an All-Clad model; I expect I'll miss the nice rolled edge.

If you have specific questions about any of the pieces I've listed above, I'd be happy to answer them, but I really doubt you'll be dissapointed.

Oh, I forgot to mention: I really prefer the handles on the Gourmet Standard pans to the handles on the All-Clad pans. The All-Clad handles have a weird, concave shape with sharp edges whereas the Gourmet Standard and nice, rounded squares.

I've never heard of Gourmet Standard until this post, but after a quick review of their website, I wouldn't buy from them.

The outer layer is 18/0 SS, so I can't imagine that your cookware will retain the SS look for long. It won't really affect the actual cooking surface, but it's not something I'd buy long term. The cooking surface is only 18/8- probably good enough, but even good flatware is 18/10 or 18/12.

For those not familiar with the nomenclature, 18 refers to 18% chromium content, and 0/8/10/12 refer to the nickel content. It's the nickel that makes SS stay pretty, while the chromium gives it the initial color.

I looked at that site, and was fairly impressed with their products, so was Cooks Illustrated, which I believe is fairly exhaustive in their side by side comparisons and tests. They even had a 30 day money back guarantee on their knives.

The outer layer is 18/0 SS, so I can't imagine that your cookware will retain the SS look for long.

In my experience, GS cookware looks fine even after years of use.

As I posted earlier, I recently bought a bunch of GS stuff based on my experience with a dutch oven that I bought a couple of years back. I used that dutch oven roughly once per week for years and when I gave it away it still looked as good as the All-Clad fry pan I bought at the same time. (The GS cookware wasn't induction compatible when I bought the dutch oven.)

Even if I could tell a difference, I can't imagine myself spending twice the money for functionally equivalent cookware...

Gourmet. The simple use of that word sends me in to a lather. As with Organic, it once meant something. Quality, integrity and the word amoungst the crowds that, "it was good". You knew the people, the place and the standard.

If you want to kill a product, use the term Gourmet or Organic.

Let's just say I give you a handtruck of fresh vegetables and herbs, cream, and cheese from your local perveyor, meat products from the butcher. Let's just say. And all you have are pans from someone's camping kit. Are you screwed? Do you tell the person that I simply cannot prepare you a wonderful meal because you do not have All-clad?

wtf?

Buy some pans, buy some pots. Play. Find what you enjoy and have some fun. Who the hell cares?

If you have a camera use it. Don't spew on forums on how it falls short. If you have a pan, fry it. Don't piss and moan about it's performance. I can outcook you with a hole in the ground and out photography you with a shoe-box with a sheet of 4x5 film.

The point is, get out there and enjoy yourself. Light that fire, burn that pan, try that ingredient and don't lose sleep over which dumbass non-stick saute pan you use.

Maybe you're already aware of it, but I just discovered recently that Le Creuset now sells a stainless line.

I've been playing around with a couple of the Le Creuset saucepans for a couple months now and I have to say I like them. They perform really well and clean up as easily as my All-Clad. Some people like the handles of the Le Creuset which are beefier than the All-Clad - I haven't made up my mind yet. They do get used quite a bit.

I thought the internal volume markers would be used more though. It seemed like such a good idea, but I never use them.